In an interview with NBC News’ Brian Williams, McCain said some House members’ determination to repeal or defund President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act during a government shutdown was “a fool’s errand.”

“We inflicted pain on the American people that was totally unnecessary. We cannot do this again,” McCain said. “We, Republicans, have a hole that we’ve got to come out of and obviously we’re going to have to do a lot of work.”

McCain, who himself opposes the president’s health law, said that stubbornly pursuing the plan to destroy Obamacare during a government shutdown was an impossible task.

“So, you deceived a lot of Americans and that adds to the cynicism,” he said.

And:

McCain also addressed the “polarization” and “lack of civility” on Capitol Hill on the heels of inflammatory comments made by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on Friday, when he accused McCain of supporting al Qaeda in Syria.

“Sometimes those are, comments like that are made out of malice, but if someone has no intelligence, I don’t view it as being a malicious statement,” McCain said. “You can’t respond to that kind of thing.”

Booyah! Well met, Senator McCain.

For some scope on what should be slung around the necks of the Republicans who, in the face of setting complete fire to the US economy, voted against re-opening the government, we turn to Amanda Knief (of American Atheists) on facebook:

162 Republicans voted against the ending the shutdown and raising the debt ceiling. According to financial news sources, the shutdown cost the U.S. people $24 billion, which with 317 million citizens means $75 a person. I figure each Republican who voted against the bill yesterday owes us that money. So each of the 162 Republicans is responsible for 1,956,790 citizens which means they each owe the U.S. people $146,759,259. If anyone needs an address to submit their bill, PM me.

They are, after all, the party of personal responsibility, right? Surely they’ll take responsibility for this. What say you, Michele Bachmann?

Bachmann then claimed that the President “rolled the dice,” and was “willing to let the country default,” because “he knew the Republicans were willing to be the adults in the room to make sure the county didn’t go into default.”

The Republicans were the adults? The Republicans were…what????

The Republicans signed on to abide by the democratic process when they came into office. When the democratic process didn’t provide the outcome they wanted on healthcare, instead of deferring to the integrity of the process, they took America hostage. They said “give us the outcome we want, which could not be won fair and square, or each and every American will suffer as the economy tanks.” Even Michele Bachmann said she, and the GOP, wanted the shutdown.

When the Democrats wanted to sit down like adults, with no looming threat of financial collapse, the GOP played the silent game. The night before the government shutdown, the GOP ensured that the only people who could re-open it were the ones occupying one half of one branch of the government. After all that, Michele Bachmann has the unmitigated temerity to say that this is all Obama’s fault, and that the Republicans are the adults in the room.

This is like a guy dangling a puppy over the edge of a building saying he’ll drop it unless he’s allowed to rob a liquor store. When the police refuse, he doesn’t drop the dog, but says the dog lived because he was a hero. No, the dog lived because the guy wasn’t as much of a monster as he claimed to be, just like the American economy now survives because some Republicans in the House (but by no means all, not even the majority) were as willing to watch Americans choke through the cinders of a burning economy as they claimed. If this is being advanced by Bachmann and the GOP as the new standard of excellence for Republican leaders, I can only long for the Democrats to achieve unilateral control of each branch of government. Better than putting it in the hands of these maniacs.

Michele, you and the GOP orchestrated this whole mess. You were the ones claiming to be willing to pull the trigger and now you want to act like our savior when you couldn’t go through with it. Although, Michele Bachmann was willing to go through with it. Voting to end the shutdown, in her eyes, made the GOP the adults. What does it say of Bachmann that she voted against it?

When not defending the planet from inevitable apocalypse at the rotting hands of the undead, JT is a writer and public speaker about atheism, gay rights, and more. He spent two and a half years with the Secular Student Alliance as their first high school organizer. During that time he built the SSA’s high school program and oversaw the development of groups nationwide. JT is also the co-founder of the popular Skepticon conference and served as the events lead organizer during its first three years.

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